Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
From: [k--p--i] at [brahms.udel.edu] (James John Krupski)
Subject: Philadelphia Comicfest `93: some observations
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1993 21:34:33 GMT

Well, I'd never been to a BIG con before.  The biggest comic convention I'd 
ever been to previously can only be described as a dealer's room with door
prizes.  I felt like a wide-eyed hick; I was AMAZED.
Doubtless, to jaded con veterans, an over-elaborated detailed
description such as the following will be boring.  I have warned you.
So many bizarre things going on and people dressed up strangely; it
reminded me over and over again of the last part of Gaiman's Golden Age
Miracleman: _Carnival_.

Arrival

I was very glad my companions insisted on going early; the line was already
substantial an hour ahead of time, and once we got in I kept busy every
minute until the dealers put sheets on their tables at closing time.  It was
discouraging to see so many people on line fingering copies of WIZARD.  A few
people looked strangely at our JOHN BATES DIED FOR *YOUR SINS* buttons, but I
suppose one must give and take on such occasions (I know I did my share of
staring at other people too --- I'd never seen a senior citizen in a Venom
jacket before).

Admittance

They opened the doors at 2pm, and we only had an hour before the debate.
I confess I didn't get much shopping done in that first hour, just
wandered around and picked up freebies and observed the spectacle.
At the end of the day, I had so much free stuff that I didn't know
just who had given me what.  Most of it was useless fliers but I also
got a free copy of Advance Comics, and now that I've read it, I can
tell you that I'm glad my store gets Previews instead.

The Debate

Well, it happened pretty much as it's been described here on racm, all
the comments about battle of wits with an unarmed man ring true.  Also,
and I didn't fully recognize it until afterwards, McF~ did indeed play
the part of the bewildered putupon innocent, hypocritically so, since
he was the one who provoked the whole thing. 
BTW, there were at LEAST two dozen camcorders in the room.  Spectators
near the front may not have noticed all the guys in back with minicams.

The Moderator

Well, it's true he's not a public speaker, but he did a good job of
controlling the crowd, giving us a pep talk first, chiding Todd for
submitting his questions late, giving us a good excuse to laugh at 
McF~, and then saying, "Good, get it out of your system now!"
The crowd was unusually well-behaved (except for Erik Larsen's
obscene gesture, which I didn't see personally) and for that I give
credit to the moderator.  
By the way folks... don't ever call him George Perez.
It's George PAY-rez, he made a big deal out of that.
----
I was quite disappointed that Peter David couldn't hang around to sign
autographs.  More so when I was chatting with the guy ahead of me
in the George Perez line, telling each other what we'd get signed, 
and he bragged that he had spotted PAD in the crowd and pulled him
aside to sign his Future Imperfects.  I was jealous.  After a short
wait, he got them signed by Perez as well, and then it was my turn.
I could see he was trying to appear cheerful and friendly in the face
of what was obviously a tedious, repetitive chore for him, so I didn't
ask him anything, just told him how much I liked his art while he signed
my stuff and let the next guy have his chance.

Scott McCloud

There were less than half a dozen people in line, so Scott took the time
to chat with each one.  When my turn came, he signed my copy of 
_Understanding Comics_, and remarked on what a well-enjoyed copy it
seemed to be ("Thank you for breaking the spine.")  We had a brief
discussion of icons, Umberto Eco, and Art Speigleman while he doodled
symbols all around his signature.  Quite a friendly, articulate guy.

Other Comics Pros

Chuck Dixon wasn't around on Friday.  I was hoping to get him to sign my
Robin #1 and tell him in person why I was disappointed with it
compared to his pre-Knightfall issues of Detective.  Oh well.
----
Joe Jusko and Peter Laird were there.  Unfortunately I didn't have
anything of theirs to sign, but I went and looked at them
anyway.  They say a cat may look at a king.    ]:-1
----
The two artists on MARVELS were there, but I stupidly I didn't get
them to sign anything.  They were giving away free MARVELS posters
too, I could have gotten them to sign that.  Oh well.

Strange Behaviour

@There was some kind of big glass booth full of coupons.  You pay to
get in it, by the minute, and they turn on the wind machine and
you try to grab as many of the coupons as you can.  I didn't try it.
@There was a platform where kids were actually playing Pog games.  I was
glad to see the Pog thing wasn't just a collector's phenomenon.
@There were two babes in their underwear giving away fliers at the
WIZARD table.  There were four Rams cheerleaders at the Image table
signing their own trading cards.  There was an attractive dark-haired
woman selling autographed topless pictures of herself.  (Really.)
@There were two Deviant Comics booths.  One of them was surrounded
by foam-rubber statues of various Defiant characters.
  
Bargains

I'm sure I must have missed other strange stuff, I spent almost all of
my time after the debate with my head down dredging thru the bargain
bins.  Folks, I haven't seen deals like this in my LIFE!  I ran out
of money around 7:30 (whimper)... and I only bought 2 $3 comics and
one $2 comic: everything else I bought was a dollar or LESS.  I'm glad
I brought a great big carry-on bag, I filled it up!  
Let me just add that if anyone out there has a gimmick-cover fetish,
you could have picked up LOTS of foil-prism-stamped-glowing-whatever
covers for peanuts.  Even Magneto #0 was $2... you get the idea.

Costumes

The Bedrock costume was simply incredible -- the head moved, the
jaw opened, the elbows bent, there was some sort of spooky
voice-box inside (#I##LIKE##TODD#) and it looked cool.
In fact it looked better than Liefield's artwork itself.
I have to be honest and praise the costume itself even though
I was angry the way they paraded the damn thing into the
debate room, flanked by the Rams cheerleaders, during
PAD's opening statement, and left it in the middle of the
room where we in the cheap seats couldn't see.  There were
other inexplicable things going on during the debate --
McF~ was in his underwear, and Perez kept saying "Is there
a problem?" evidently because Todd was fiddling with his
boombox -- but the damn Bedrock thing was the most
distracting.
Afterwards, Bedrock took a couple of turns around the
convention floor, preceded by security guards hustling
people out of the way.  To me this meant that the
guy inside couldn't see very well, and they didn't want
him to trip.  If he DID trip, he probably couldn't
stand up by himself, which conjured up an amusing
mental image of a little guy writhing on the floor,
the pieces of styrofoam starting to seperate, unable
to stand, helpless as an overturned turtle.  But I was
good, I didn't trip him.    ]:->
----
There were a Grifter and a Zealot wandering around, but I
didn't know who they were, I had to ask.  Their costumes
looked credible, I guess, for outlandish costumes that is.
(For those of you who don't know who they are, there's a
cover of them by Jim Lee on this week's CSN.)
----
There was a Death's Head II wandering around, he looked
pretty funky, his elaborate metal parts spit-shined, his
stagger unsteady.  He was actually pretty scary-looking, he
was a HUGE tall muscular guy.
----
There were reports of a Spider-man, Mantra, and Vampirella
as well, but I must have had my head in a bargain bin.
----
Compared with the other three Image costumes, the Spawn costume
didn't impress me.  Neither did the repulsive Violator
sculpture or the Spawnmobile.  I experienced a brief fit of
rage at seeing this pathetic, gaudy vehicle that my money
helped upholster.  NEVER AGAIN!  (OK, maybe I'm a little biased.)
----
There was a Adam West-style Batman, complete with potbelly.
You could also get your picture taken in the original
Batmobile for $5.  I declined but it was neat to see the
thing close up.
----
You could get your picture taken with a really gorgeous
Marilyn Monroe lookalike too, although I suppose that
doesn't really count as a costume.
----
And then there was me -- I wore a white lightning bolt
on my chest and hoped that someone would recognize me as
John Tensen, the Justice Warrior, but nobody said anything.  ]:-1

Afterwards

Was it worth $10 for six hours?  Folks, as I said to the guy
seated next to me in the cheap seats, it was worth the ten
dollars just to watch McF~ make a fool of himself. 
Next year, though, I'd like to be there all four days,
take my time, look all the way thru the bargain bins instead 
of just skimming them, bring real money and finish off my
shopping list.  I was sorry to miss McCloud's presentation
on Saturday, and Ellison's ranting on Sunday (I've heard he 
give great rant   ]:-1  ), but even for one day it was
_definitely_ worth it.  Friday was a GREAT day.

			-Slippery Jim